1992 NCAA Division I men's ice hockey tournament explained

Year:1992
Gender:men's
Division:Division I
Teams:12
Frozenfourarena:Knickerbocker Arena
Frozenfourcity:Albany, New York
Champions:Lake Superior State Lakers
Titlecount:2nd
Champgamecount:2nd
Champffcount:2nd
Runnerup:none
(Wisconsin Badgers vacated)[1]
Gamecount:-
Runnerffcount:-
Semifinal1:Michigan State Spartans
Frozenfourcount:8th
Semifinal2:Michigan Wolverines
Frozenfourcount2:14th
Coach:Jeff Jackson
Coachcount:1st
Mop:Paul Constantin
Mopteam:Lake Superior State
Attendance:67,363

The 1992 NCAA Division I men's ice hockey tournament involved 12 schools competing to determine the national champion of men's NCAA Division I college ice hockey. Beginning with the 1992 tournament the format was changed to single-elimination play for all rounds of the tournament. First and quarterfinal rounds were played at two predetermined sites as the East and West Regionals.[2] The tournament began on March 26, 1992, and ended with the championship game on April 4 in which Lake Superior State defeated the University of Wisconsin 5-3. A total of 11 games were played. Wisconsin's participation in the tournament was later vacated by the NCAA Committee on Infractions.[1]

Alaska-Anchorage's 1992 participation was the last time an independent team was selected to the tournament, until Arizona State in 2019.

The 1992 championship game is most remembered for the controversial penalty calls that gave Lake Superior State 11 power plays in the game. Wisconsin staff and players were so incensed at the calls that referee Tim McConaghy was accosted after the match which led to two Wisconsin players being suspended for the Badgers' next NCAA Tournament game while assistant coach Bill Zito was barred from any affiliation with Wisconsin for the program's next two NCAA appearances.[3] [4]

Qualifying teams

The at-large bids and seeding for each team in the tournament were announced after the conference tournaments concluded. The Central Collegiate Hockey Association (CCHA), Hockey East and Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA) all had three teams receive a berth in the tournament, the ECAC had two berths, and there was one independent Division I bid.

East Regional – ProvidenceWest Regional – Detroit
SeedSchoolConference RecordBerth typeAppearanceLast bidSeedSchoolConference RecordBerth type AppearanceLast bid
1MaineHockey East31–3–2*Tournament champion6th19911MichiganCCHA31–8–3At-large bid15th1991
2St. LawrenceECAC22–9–2Tournament champion12th19892MinnesotaWCHA33–10–0At-large bid19th1991
3New HampshireHockey East22–12–2^At-large bid5th19833Lake Superior StateCCHA26–9–4Tournament champion6th1991
4Boston UniversityHockey East22–8–4^At-large bid18th19914Northern MichiganWCHA24–13–3Tournament champion5th1991
5Michigan StateCCHA23–10–8^At-large bid13th19905ClarksonECAC22–9–1At-large bid12th1991
6Wisconsin (vacated)WCHA24–13–2At-large bid(vacated)19916Alaska-AnchorageIndependent27–7–1At-large bid3rd1991

^ These teams records reflect the losses they had against Maine at the time that were later overturned.

[5]

Game locations

Tournament bracket

Wisconsin's participation in the 1992 tournament was later vacated by the NCAA Committee on Infractions.Note: * denotes overtime period(s)

Regional Quarterfinals

East Regional

(4) Boston University vs. (5) Michigan State

West Regional

(4) Northern Michigan vs. (5) Clarkson

Regional semifinals

East Regional

(2) St. Lawrence vs. (6) Wisconsin

West Regional

(2) Minnesota vs. (3) Lake Superior State

Frozen Four

National semifinal

(W1) Michiganvs. (E6) Wisconsin

National Championship

(W3) Lake Superior State vs. (E6) Wisconsin

Scoring summary
PeriodTeamGoalAssist(s)TimeScore
1stalign=center style=";" WISJason Zentalign=center align=center 1–0 WIS
align=center style=";" WISJason ZentPPalign=center align=center 2–0 WIS
2ndalign=center style=";" LSSUPaul ConstantinPPalign=center align=center 2–1 WIS
align=center style=";" LSSUTim Hanleyalign=center 39:54align=center 2–2
3rdalign=center style=";" LSSUMichael Smithalign=center 44:16align=center 3–2 LSSU
align=center style=";" WISJason ZentPPalign=center align=center 3–3
align=center style=";" LSSUBrian RolstonGWalign=center 55:08align=center 4–3 LSSU
align=center style=";" LSSUJay Ness – PP ENalign=center 59:58align=center 5–3 LSSU
Goaltenders
TeamNameSavesGoals againstTime on ice
align=center style=";" WIS align=center align=center 4 align=center
align=center style=";" LSSU align=center 24 align=center 3

All-Tournament team

* Most Outstanding Player(s)[6]
† Participation of D: Barry Richter and F: Jason Zent vacated when Wisconsin's participation in the tournament was later vacated[1]

[7]

Record by conference

Conference
  1. of Bids
RecordWin %Regional semifinalsFrozen FourChampionship GameChampions
CCHA3 7-2 .778 3 3 1 1
Hockey East3 0-3 .000 1 - - -
3 4-3 .571 3 1
(vacated)
1
(vacated)
-
ECAC2 0-2 .000 1 - - -
Independent1 0-1 .000 - - - -

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Division I Men's Ice Hockey Championship History . . 2015-03-28.
  2. Web site: Tournament History . https://web.archive.org/web/20120817163148/http://fs.ncaa.org/Docs/stats/frozen_4/2009/f4trnhist.pdf . 2012-08-17 . live . 2013-07-03 .
  3. News: HOCKEY; Amid Fury, Lake Superior St. Prevails . The New York Times . April 6, 1992 . November 14, 2019.
  4. News: NCAA PENALTIES HIT WISCONSIN . The Chicago Tribune . April 23, 1992 . November 14, 2019.
  5. News: NCAA Division 1 Tournament . College Hockey Historical Archives . 2013-06-19 . https://web.archive.org/web/20140202145059/http://augenblick.org/chha/ncaa_trn.html . 2014-02-02 . live .
  6. News: NCAA Division I Awards . College Hockey Historical Archives. 2013-07-17.
  7. News: NCAA Frozen Four Records . NCAA.org . 2013-06-19 . https://web.archive.org/web/20120817163005/http://fs.ncaa.org/Docs/stats/frozen_4/2009/f4recs.pdf . 2012-08-17 . live .